I'm Glad
I'm Glad is a song recorded by Jennifer Lopez for her third studio album This Is Me... Then It was written by Jennifer, Troy Oliver, Cory Rooney, Mr. Deyo and Jesse Weaver Jr. and produced by Oliver & Rooney. It was released as the album's third single on April 8, 2003. "I'm Glad" is an R&B and dance-pop song about finding the right lover after a long period of time. It received positive reviews by music critics who find the track one of the highlight from the album. The song did not follow the success of the previous singles, peaking only at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, the song proved to be more successful in Australia, Canada and Netherlands where it peaked inside the top-ten. In 2003, following the use of dance routines from the film "Flashdance" in the music video for "I'm Glad" (directed by David LaChapelle), Maureen Marder sued Jennifer, Sony Corporation and Paramount in an attempt to gain a copyright interest in the film. Song Background & Release While recording the album, Jennifer stated: "They just stay with you... I wanted to do something that's true to me and how I grew up, but I also wanted to make beautiful songs. So I'd listen to records from today and I would listen to records from back then, and eventually I'd go, 'That's what I want.'" Among some songs written for the album, "I'm Glad" was conceived and recorded at the Hit Factory, in New York. After releasing "Jenny from the Block" and "All I Have" as singles with the latter topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "I'm Glad" was announced as the third single to be released on April 8, 2003. According to Jennifer, she initially didn't want "Jenny from the Block" or "All I Have" to be released as singles from the album. She felt that the tracks were too similar to her previous singles such as "Ain't It Funny" and "I'm Real." She felt like she was "''visiting old territory." According to Jennifer: "Those tracks were like a different era for me, and I didn't want people to perceive it like I'm just trying to capitalize on the same thing. But the record company was like, 'Who cares what they think, those are hits mama!" Jennifer (who stated she "calls the shots") eventually agreed. Composition & Lyrics "I'm Glad" is a contemporary R&B song which includes elements of dance-pop and soul music, with a length of three minutes and forty-two seconds. It was written by Jennifer, Cory Rooney, Troy Oliver and Andre Deyo with Oliver & Rooney serving as producers. The song contains a sample of Schoolly D's 1986 song "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" which was originally written by Jesse Weaver, Jr. It was reported by the magazine Face Up that Ben Affleck played "I'm Glad" when he proposed to Jennifer. Lyrically, "I'm Glad" is about finding the right lover after a long period of time. A minute into the song, Jennifer sings about meeting someone for the first time unexpectedly, "Baby when I think about/The day that we first met/Wasn't looking for what I found/But I found you/And I'm bound to/find happiness in bein' around you." Jennifer exhales in the pre-chorus deeply, "I think I'm in love/Damn, finally!" During the chorus, she sings about lovemaking, feeling "glad for the way" her lover makes her feel because he seems to "blow" her mind every time. She also expresses gratefulness for him lavishing her with affection. In the song's bridge, Jennifer continues to sing about finding the man who has made her life "worth living." At its conclusion, she sings, "say that you won't leave/'cause since the day you came/I'm glad." Music Video The music video for "I'm Glad" was directed by David LaChapelle and it pays homage to Adrian Lyne's 1983 film "Flashdance" with the same story of an aspiring young dancer who welds by day and gyrates by night in a friendly neighborhood girlie bar. The video showed Jennifer in a series of vignettes lifted from the movie and even borrowing its characteristically 80’s mote-softened lighting. Video Synopsis The video opens with Jennifer striding (albeit somewhat nervously) into a dance audition, instantly making the row of stony-faced judges her prisoners. After that, she is seeing pedaling down a city alley, dressed in the schlumpy welding clothes of Jennifer Beals's character, Alex Owens and accompanied by a chocolatey mutt, similar to the one Alex had in the movie. Then, Jennifer saunters through a corridor of snotty, skinny ballerinas (just as in the movie) they look askance at her. She also re-creates the girlie-bar routine in which Beal’s character struts out in a wedge-shaped jacket that eventually gives way to a lacy teddy. Video Reception The New York Times wrote that the video: "takes everything that’s cheesily exuberant about 'Flashdance' and condenses (and intensifies) it into a sly and primally satisfying four minutes. As a music video should, it exists to serve the song. Most significantly, though, the 'I’m Glad' video creates its own world separate from that of 'Flashdance'. Ms. Lopez has taken what’s thrilling about the movie - the idea of a working-class girl who makes her mark on the world – and presented it as a buffed-up fairy-tale version of her own career. And yet she’s wise enough to know that, in a music video, style can be used as a kind of substance. 'I’m Glad' reduces 'Flashdance' to its core element: it’s the story of a woman with a beautiful body who, in her spare time, just happens to be chasing a dream. That’s a flimsy concept to hang a movie on, but an exceptionally sly and witty one for a music video, considering that women with beautiful bodies are the video worlds stock in trade to begin with – and considering that Ms. Lopez, not just a beautiful body but a marvelous dancer, is such a pleasure to watch." While analyzing Jennifer's DVD "The Reel Me" (which contains her music videos), Jason Shawhan of About.com considered it "her second best video ("Waiting for Tonight" being first) and one of her most interesting efforts." Shawhan continued, "it's still a stunning effort where Jennifer and David LaChappelle recreate Flashdance to a tee. You can sense Lopez' joy in the video, as well as the punishing dance work on display." Controversy & Lawsuit The recreation of scenes from "Flashdance" led Maureen Marde (whose life was the inspiration for the storyline of the film) to sue Jennifer, Sony Corporation and Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement in November of 2003, claiming that the video was an unauthorized depiction of her life story. The lawsuit was dismissed in June of 2006. Commercial Reception "I'm Glad" did not follow the success of Jennifer's previous singles, however it was a moderate success in some countries. In the United States, "I'm Glad" debuted at number 64 on the Hot 100 chart, on the issue date May 3, 2003. On the issue date May 24, 2003, the song climbed to number 32, becoming its peak position. It became Jennifer's lowest charting-single since her 2000 single "Feelin' So Good." However, the song proved to be more successful on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, peaking at number 4 on the issue date July 12, 2003. In Australia, the managed to debut and peak at number 10, becoming her ninth top-ten single. In Netherlands, the song fared better, peaking at number 6. In Canada, "I'm Glad" was also a success, reaching number 8 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, becoming her eighth top-ten single. In the United Kingdom, "I'm Glad" peaked at number 11, remaining on the UK charts for nine weeks. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 42 on June 22, 2003. It later jumped to number 22, becoming its peak position. The song was nominated for a Teen Choice Awards in 2003 on the category "Choice Love Song," but it lost to Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love." Category:Songs Category:Singles Category:Music